The Antelope Valley Mosquito Abatement District was formed on August 21st 1958, through action taken by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, as a result of a petition submitted by the residents of the Antelope Valley. Governing power is vested in a five-member Board of Trustees whose members represent the citizens of Palmdale, Lancaster, and Los Angeles County.
Since its formation, the District has increased its size from approximately 178 square miles to over 230 square miles, including the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as Quartz Hill. In August of 1994 the name was changed to Antelope Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District (AVMVCD) to be able to include the surveillance and control other potential threats to the public health, such as Africanized Honey Bees.
The Antelope Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District is a "Special District" (government entity) that is funded by a benefit assessment charged to each parcel within District boundaries. As a special district we are able to collect a benefit assessment fee and property taxes to raise the money we need to operate the District. This way, we can provide our service free of any additional charges to the entire community within our boundaries.
From the beginning, the District was dedicated to informing the public about mosquito-borne diseases and joined the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California to profit from the gathered information of the other Vector Control Districts in California.
Our main goal at AVMVC is to reduce the number of mosquitoes within our District boundaries to a tolerable level and monitor outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile Virus. This is achieved by utilizing an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, as well as a public education and outreach program. This includes the use of environmentally safe insecticides to control mosquito larvae, physical elimination of mosquito breeding sites, introduction of mosquito-eating predators (such as the mosquito-fish (Gambusia affinis) and scientifically-based pest and disease surveillance systems.
Since 1999, with the arrival of the Africanized Honey Bees (AHBs) or so-called "Killer Bees" in the Antelope Valley, the District included control of AHBs to our services. Since bees are very beneficial we will only destroy them
